Dude Party

Last year, for Handyman's birthday present I got him a beer brewing kit.  He loves honey, so I purchased the Honey Nut Brown.

This year, he finally got around to brewing it.

He and a few of his fellow dudes came over for a ManPparty to celebrate.  They were either celebrating his birthday, or the tasting of his first beer, I'm not sure which.

They thought it hilarious that he stored his stuff in Bud Light containers.  I don't really get it, but then, I like wine better than beer.

There was plenty of chips and homemade Aloha Salsa.

And of course, this being a Man Party, there was the required heart attack inducing amount of meat.

 

Happy birthday Handyman!

I'm In Love with Edward

 No, not that Edward.

This Edward.

My previous dishwasher (now deceased) had to be replaced, so my Handyman did the prerequisite manly thing and kindly bought me a new dishwasher.

He also did the prerequisite plumber "thing" while installing Edward under my countertop.

(I have no shame.  Before you react with too much outrage, however, know that I obtained permission before posting above photo.)

Now you are probably wondering why I call my dishwasher Edward.  (You are also most likely wondering why I name my appliances in the first place, but that I can comfortably blame on genetics.  It's my Opa's fault.)

First of all, my Edward, like the literary one, has fangs.

Secondly, it's pasty white and glitters in the sun.

Thirdly, there's nothing so handsome as a man doing dishes.

The final reason?  Because both the literary and appliance Edward elicit the same reaction from my Handyman.

New Pattern for Sale!

If you've ever visited my Ravelry page, you'll know that I have a few patterns that I've listed for free.  For the first time, I decided to list a pattern that isn't free, but only a nominal $2.  I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested, but thankfully a few people were!

It's so nice to occasionally get a "pattern download" notice in my email inbox.  What an odd feeling to know that I'm contributing to our paypal account, rather than depleting it. 

Anyway, here's the pattern, a very easy, very comfy, very useful beanie hat knit with 50 grams of fingering weight yarn.  It is written to fit anyone (except little babies, of course), and is great take-along knitting, since the 3 x 2 ribbing is repetitive and relaxing and the decreasing section only requires minimal attention.

Self-striping yarns are absolutely perfect for this project, and best yet, you would really only need to purchase one ball (bigger skeins of sock yarn will yield two hats).

Men are notoriously difficult to knit for, but I can say with certitude that this hat is a hit with the dudes.  Handyman has been sporting his around town, and he is the envy of all the other guys and I've gotten several requests to knit up extras for Christmas presents that can be purchased.  Some of the bald dudes in the church especially appreciate the fact that there's no seam in the back (the beanie is knit in the round).

I'm going to try to get a few extra's knit and listed on my Etsy page before Christmas, but if you're a knitter, why not save yourself the money and just make your own?  This would make a fabulous present!

Here's the link:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sabeanie

(If you don't have a Ravelry account but would like the pattern, please contact me).

Another Minor Gabe-isode

I'm so glad that Gabe is my third child.

(If he had been my first child, there would have been no second or third child following.)

The other day I was out shopping, and Handyman was home with the kids.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Handyman: "I can't find Gabe. Did you take him with you?"

Me: "No. You know I didn't take him with me, because you put him down for a nap yourself."

Handyman: "Well, I can't find him anywhere. You have to come home and help me find him."

Me: (Dead silence.)

Handyman, in increasing tones of panic: "Seriously, I've looked everywhere! I've looked under the beds, in the other kids' beds, I can't find . . . .

. . . oh, I just found him."

Me: "Where?"
Handyman: "He's in Miss Boo's baby doll bed."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~

Yes, that's my Gabe. He's my third (and last) child.

11 Years

For our anniversary, Handyman and I got a babysitter and went out on a date.

We were starving, so we stopped at Famous Dave's. I had a fantastic coupon, which I unfortunately left at home. Thankfully the manager was nice enough to believe me about my coupon, and when I explained our circumstances, he accepted my story (and coupon).
(The manager looked a lot like Gerard Butler. Of course, this perception could be due to the fact that he gave us a discount).

Handyman was trying to appear svelte. I think he looks more like he's constipated.
There wasn't much to do after that. There weren't any movies out that either of us wanted to watch, so we went to Target to get a few things.

While we were there, we found some interesting dolls from the Twilight movies. Handyman was not impressed with Edward's facial expression of fierceness.

Then he put Edward back (in Handyman's words) "where Edward really belonged".I'll give you a moment to figure out what else is in the picture . . .

Backward Progress

I always like to have a sock on the needles, because they make the perfect portable knitting project. Small, compact, and generally rather brainless knitting (depending on the complexity of the pattern, of course).

It's been awhile since I knit Handyman a pair of socks, mainly because it's taken me a year or so to recover from the trauma of knitting socks for a man who has skis for feet. Another reason is that knitting for men is generally boring. No fancy colors, no cool swirls, no paroxysms of rainbow shading.

My favorite go-to pattern for a man's sock is the Dolomite Sock from Knitspot. I was fortunate enough to have test knit the pattern for her, and it's so fun and not too difficult to memorize.
I was merrily knitting away, well-pleased with my progress and feeling especially wifely and sweet when I noticed that the sock I was knitting was starting to look rather large. As I said earlier, Handyman has skis for feet - long and skinny. Drat. Only then did I remember that the last time I knit the pattern (I knit a size large) it was a little too floppy on Handyman's anemic feet.
I blame my lapse of knitting know-how entirely on trauma-induced amnesia. I have a feeling that this experience is going to be a repeat of the last.

Here's my progress as of now after several hours of intense knitting. . .

Handyman's Handmade Presents

As I've stated several times earlier, Handyman and I share a birthday. Like most men, my Handyman is extremely hard to shop for. He has all the clothes he needs, he buys his own X-box games at prices I could never find, and generally is the most content human being on the planet. This is borne out by the fact that three weeks after desperately asking him what he wanted for his birthday, the only thing he could come up with was, "Cookies".

It hit me that he needed a few more fun T-shirts for wearing around town, and since he absolutely loves anything vintage Nintendo, I decided to try making him his own tee with iron-on photo transfer paper.

First, I googled an image online that I liked, and then I downloaded free Mario Brothers font. (Hopefully I'm not committing all sorts of copyright violations. They can't sue me because I have no money, so incarceration is their only option. I might like jail if they let me keep my knitting. Time to myself! Hmmmmmm, possibilities . . . . oh yeah, where was I?)

Anyway, I found a cheap $5 plain tee shirt at Walmart, and ironed on creases so that I'd be able to center my image. I could have used a water soluble pencil, but I'm low-tech and don't have anything like that. (I think I used to have one before it was confiscated for dinosaur art purposes. We must make sacrifices for art).
I carefully and painstakingly cut out every. single. letter. and then ironed them onto the shirt, doing my very bestest to keep the letters even. Thankfully the Super Mario Font is a bit wonky anyway, so I had some leeway. Unfortunately I didn't use the sharpest scissors as I should have, and I mangled one of the letters pretty badly. I told Handyman it was supposed to look like a bullet hole. Yup. Intentional distressing.
After the letters I ironed on my image, and I was done!
I think I'll need to give the shirt a quick vinegar/water bath to help the colors stay bright.

Handyman certainly seemed thrilled with his gift!
I made him one more shirt (this one was a lot easier, because the wording was part of the image.) It was a variation of the mushroom/Mario theme.
(Note: when you get an image off the internet and resize it, it will most likely lose its detail. I printed out the image in the size I wanted, and then re-outlined the image with a black permanent marker. After that, I copied the sharper image onto the photo-transfer paper.)

My Men are Coming Baaaaaack!!!!!

My parents recently bought a beautiful little hobby farm in the Sunny South, and asked Handyman to come down and help them move and put his handy skills to use in building (putting up?) fences, fixing doors, erecting chicken tent thingys, and alpaca holdings.
(Hands in belt loops) Yup, what can I say, I taught the man everything he knows!

Well, that was three, yes three long weeks ago. I have been bereft of my two biggest men for THREEEEEEEEEEE WEEEEEEEKS! (Which might explain the increasingly neurotic blog posts). Knowing the destructive tendencies of his progeny, Handyman didn't want to leave me alone with all three kids, so he decided to take my oldest, Peter, with him as a sort of Daddy-son bonding trip.

Peter was an old pro when it came to knowing what to do with the catastrophic and monumental (2 inches) snowfall that occurred while he was there. (Please note the heavy dose of sarcasm).
He played outside a lot (which is what Handyman told me), and video games a lot (which is what my Mum told me.)
They did school together as well as getting to do some special science labs with my Mum (who is hands down the coolest science teacher EV-UH.)
He played with the 7 alpacas, three dogs, and five humans, and showed off his mad "T-Rex Stomping" skills.
There have been reports of sleeping with Peter's pillow while he was gone, but no admittance of guilt is forthcoming.

They're coming back tomorrow morning, and I'm so excited I could scream.

And cry.

And panic because the house is a mess and I will lose all moral high ground with Handyman if he comes home and the house is a mess. My elaborate hypothesis that he makes a majority of the mess would then be proven false.

A Sweet Surprise

The other day I had to run out for something before dinner, so when I came home imagine my surprise when I opened the door to find Miss Boo and Peter waiting to give me a big hug and yell, "Surprise Mommy!"

Handyman must have sensed that it had been a rather long day for me, so he took all the food I had made for dinner and set it up on the table with candles to make it look elegant.
I got to sit down while he dished up the plates and served me and the kids. What a nice way to enjoy an evening!

Fall Day with Daddy

After having spent several weeks playing Hot Potato with the flu, we were so ready to get outdoors once we were all relatively healthy again.
Handyman was working in a nearby town, so the kids and I packed up and headed to visit him at work.

He was building some sort or roof thing so that they could install some sort of metal roof on top of the wooden thingys. (Handyman gets his building expertise from me.)

The kids had fun playing in the colorful fall leaves and watching trains pass.
Those curls just kill me every time!
Peter even got to "help" a little bit. Grandpa seemed to appreciate having the next generation of workers around!

Random Photos

Any woman with young children has no doubt come across interesting photos that were shot by intrepid little fingers without Mommy's knowledge.

This, however, was very unexpected.
As was this.

This particular angle is just downright disturbing.
(I think I need to speak with Handyman about his asthetic ideals.